In years past we have celebrated Telecommunicator Week mostly with recognizing the group by way of putting on a luncheon in the Center for all shifts and issuance of small token items such as lanyards and mugs from the organization. We also have issued certificates to the group and/ or individuals for this week and recognition.
Plans this year will mostly likely be very similar.
We don’t normally reach out to public with info related to this occasion. We have no materials related to these events. We recognize our group in the way stated above though we have received a letter from the State to our Center recognizing them and this is quite an honor and had been displayed in years past.
We celebrate Telecommunicator’s Week each year at our PSAP with a week of fun activities. We have theme days such as sports day where we wear our favorite sports team shirt, have hot dogs and peanuts in the shell to eat. We have different activities during this week such as crossword puzzles, movie trivia, scavenger hunts, etc. One day of the week the meal is provided by management. The directors and deputy directors provide the meal for all shifts that day. Another day, the shift supervisors provide a meal for their shift. The other days may have a meal or a snack. We do a big breakfast day where we make pancakes, sausages, eggs, toast, and have donuts too. Sometimes it might just be a dessert day where several businesses donate different desserts. We try to match up the food to our themes. We run a poster contest with the local schools that end the week before Telecommunicator’s Week so we can hang the posters up all week during Telecommunicator’s week to vote on the winners. If we get items donated we pull a staff member’s name and an item and that person gets that item. We have prizes for the games. We finish the week with an awards ceremony for the Telecommunicator of the Year, Supervisor of the Year, and Admin Support Person of the Year.
Palm Beach County Emergency Management/9-1-1 Division recognizes this week every year. In some years past we have been awarded a proclamation from the Board of County Commissioners. We also kick off the week by participating in a bowling fund raiser that supports the TAF (http://www.911taf.com/history.html) which has over 50 teams from PSAP’s all over Palm Beach County. We also started last year a mini conference where we offer a variety of training classes all week at a central location free of charge for all Palm Beach County Dispatchers that are in our 19 PSAP’s. We have breakfast sponsored every day and some vendors sell 9-1-1 merchandise.
We print out a huge poster and put it on the door of Fire Rescue dispatchers that are housed in the same building with us and everyone in the division signs it. And EM continues to sponsor the Mini Conference that I mentioned above.
Telecommunicators Week was celebrated in the past with various activities during the week. It usually involved games and prizes and food being catered. Also, on the first day of Telecomm Week, we would have a larger event for dispatchers to attend (supervisors would usually staff the center for the few hours of the event so all dispatchers can attend). Some things we’ve done: Awards Dinner, Dispatcher Picnic, and Dispatcher Breakfast. These events usually have games tied in and a central theme. One year we had a celebrity theme where dispatchers were treated to a red carpet, and movie posters made using dispatcher photos. We have in the past given out awards voted on by peers for Dispatcher of the Year, Trainer of the Year, MVP Award, and Elite Award.
